The COE concept seeks to ensure that key councils are identified across the region and worked with very closely in their process of getting gender on their council's agenda. The approach also seeks to develop synergy in GL programme work by focusing various projects from our SADC Gender Protocol, governance, media and justice programmes in specific localities.

The councils' progress in Lesotho

Council	About the council	Stages
Rats’oleli	Rats’oleli Community Council is located in Qacha’s Nek district and is one of the identified pilot COE councils in Lesotho. The Council falls under Tsoelikoe Constituency where the Hounarable Prime Minister is an MP.	Completed stages I, II and III
Mateanong	Mateanong Community Council is found in the district of Mokhotlong. This is one of the councils where the gender agenda is taken on a higher level. Mateanong Council has participated in several 16 Days of Activism activities in the past.	Completed stages I, II and III
‘Makholane	‘Makholane Community Council is one of the 10 selected COE councils in the country and part of the few that has completed its stages 1-4.	Completed stages I, II, III and IV
Makhoarane	Makhoarane Community Council is located in Morija Maseru, the highly regarded historical places. Like many other community councils in the country, the composition of the council is made up of little number of councillors and staff. There are 6 female and 5 male councillors.	Completed stages I, II and III
Mashaleng	Mashaleng Community Council is located in the district of Mohale’Hoek. This is one of the identified COE councils and stages 1 and 2 have been completed already.	Completed stages I and II
Qomoqomong	Qomoqomong Community Council is found within the Quthing district and the council has participated in the making of the national gender strategy for local government back in 2007.	Completed stages I, II and III
Likila	Likila Community Council has been identified as one of the COE councils in the country. Likila Council works extensively with HIV and AIDS home based care support groups in it’s area and the council has expressed interest in working on gender and gender based violence initiatives.	Completed stages I, II and III
Motati	Motati Community Council is found in the district of Leribe. In this council, there are more men (7) than women (4) and so is similar situation within many of the council committees. However after the gender action plan workshop was held, a lot enthusiasm was shown regarding change in council management structures.	Completed stages I, II, III and IV
Senekane	Senekane Community Council is found in the district of Berea and this council participated at the Berea district gender action plan workshop back in 2009.	Completed stages I, II and III
Thabana-Mahlanya	Thabana-Mahlanya Community Council is located in the district of Thaba-Tseka, one of the remote areas in the country. Thabana-Mahlanya has been chosen as one of the COE councils and has completed its stages 1 and 2.	Completed stages I and II

Stages in the process are:

Stage I: Meetings with management teams and political heads of councils
Stage II: Situational Analysis
Stage III: Council level policy and implementation workshops
Stage IV: Community mobilisation village level meetings on the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development
Stage V: Capacity building through on the job training: Modules include: Gender, elections and the media, Making IT and the media work for you, Campaigns, Communication
Stage VI: Application of skills in the running of major campaigns, e.g. 365 Days of Action to End Gender Based Violence